{"id":328204,"date":"2026-07-03T09:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T09:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/328204\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T09:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T09:28:11","slug":"st-pete-clearwater-airport-begins-planning-for-renovations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/328204\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Pete-Clearwater Airport begins planning for renovations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport is going to undergo renovations \u2014 eventually.<\/p>\n<p>The design phase for things like a new parking garage and infrastructure improvements should start in the fall.<\/p>\n<p>The initial <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wusf.org\/transportation\/2024-04-12\/st-pete-clearwater-international-airport-110-million-expansion\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">project<\/a>, conceived in 2024, included a terminal expansion and a new parking garage and had a budget of $110 million.<\/p>\n<p>However, airport spokesperson Michele Routh said the plan had to be re-structured to focus on more urgent matters \u2014 repairing the airport\u2019s aging infrastructure and dealing with an unprecedented growth in annual flyers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are still expanding to an extent, but we don&#8217;t call it an expansion project,\u201d she said. \u201cThe airport terminal is about a little over 1,000 acres. So our footprint&#8217;s not getting bigger. We&#8217;re working within our space anyways, but we are going to add.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>ALSO READ: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wusf.org\/transportation\/2024-04-12\/st-pete-clearwater-international-airport-110-million-expansion\" class=\"Link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport will undergo a $110 million expansion<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The 2024 plan included consolidating the airport\u2019s two TSA checkpoints into one and adding escalators, which Routh said was going to cost more money than the airport had saved and be disruptive to travelers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe project that was being designed was significantly more than [$110 million].\u201d she said. \u201cThat was part of the reason that we needed to re-scope, but we also needed to prioritize the parking garage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Current plans still include that garage, as well as four additional passenger loading bridges, more seating in waiting areas and a second level to the baggage claim facility.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Routh said the airport saw its most passengers ever, with 2.8 million travelers. That growth can make it hard for people to find parking spots in the area that is currently available.<\/p>\n<p>ALSO READ: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wusf.org\/transportation\/2025-08-13\/st-pete-clearwater-international-airport-director-retiring\" class=\"Link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport director retiring amid expansion project<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is not firm yet, but it&#8217;s looking like we&#8217;ll have 1,700 additional parking spaces,\u201d she said. \u201cThat will really help us figure out the growth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The airport currently has around $145 million budgeted for the renovations, drawing from FAA grants and reserves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to look at the entire pot of money with that parking garage and terminal improvement,\u201d she said. \u201cWe continue to apply for grants, we&#8217;re always going to be after money. Right now, the pot of money is approximately $145 million. So scoping and design is looking at those parameters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Routh added it\u2019s still too early to know exactly when construction will start and how long it will take, but she expects it won\u2019t be concluded until early 2028.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAirports are constantly having to plan for future terminal improvements and expansions all the time,\u201d she said. \u201cSo this won&#8217;t be the end of it by any stretch of the imagination, but it will get us to a point where we&#8217;re able to accommodate our growth for the next several years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport is going to undergo renovations \u2014 eventually. The design phase for things like a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-328204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}